The Weird Way Cell Phones May Change Brain Activity

Is your phone as much a part of your life as mine is? I always have my iPhone within reach--it's become a third hand, practically, though I use it more for email and texting than for actual talking. So this news about what our trusty little gadgets may do to our brains is extremely interesting...

Is your phone as much a part of your life as mine is? I always have my iPhone within reach--it's become a third hand, practically, though I use it more for email and texting than for actual talking. So this news about what our trusty little gadgets may do to our brains is extremely interesting...

A report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the* Journal of the American Medical Association* that a cell phone's electromagnetic field can cause changes in brain activity. Researchers found that when you're talking on the phone, the part of your brain that's nearest to the cell's antenna shows high levels of glucose consumption (or activity).

This study is about increased brain activity, not a possible cancer link, as Time underscores: "Before you start to panic that all your cell-phone confessionals have set you up for some kind of brain tumor, remember this: Higher rates of glucose metabolism in the brain can mean a number of things. Yes, tumor cells may gobble up more glucose to fuel their relentless growth, but healthy brain cells need constant replenishment too, to keep up the intricate network of messages and connections that help us think, eat, move and stay alive."

The research is still very preliminary (another study of more than 420,000 people didn't find a link between cancer and cell phone use), but Dr. Nora Volkow, the study's director, says: "When you have data like this, you cannot ignore it. ... There is data showing that the human brain is sensitive to electromagnetic waves, whether we like it or not. Now we have to understand whether that is bad or good."

How much do you talk on your cell? Are you ever concerned about cell phones and possible health links?